2 4 o THE QUORN HUNT 



ship of the Ouorn Hunt, a position which had entailed 

 a considerable amount of anxiety, but his friends kept 

 urging him to remain at the post he so well adorned. 

 So popular was he that in the year 1852 the members 

 of the Hunt commissioned Sir Francis (then Mr. F.) 

 Grant to paint Sir Richard's portrait, which he did 

 with the greatest success, the picture including likenesses 

 of Tom Day, Ben and Jack Morgan the whippers-in, 

 and also the Duke of Rutland, the Marquis of Granby, 

 the Hon. Colonel Lowther, Mr. Assheton Smith, Mr. 

 Greene, Mr. H. Heathcote, Mr. Banks Wright, Messrs. 

 Frank, Charles, and Richard Sutton, and Mr. John 

 Wood. 



Just about this time it was noted that some of the 

 best horsewomen in England were hunting in Leicester- 

 shire, ladies who could and did go perfectly straight ; but it 

 was remarked that in no case did ladies wear spurs, while 

 a further item of gossip was that Mr. Rowland Smith, a 

 member of an unlucky family, had sustained a somewhat 

 severe accident. While riding a hard puller near Ashby- 

 de-la-Zouch his horse ran him against a tree and broke 

 his arm. Only a few days before Mr. Smith's brother, 

 while following the Hertfordshire hounds, met with a 

 very similar mishap. His horse bolted, and running 

 against a tree, severely injured his rider's knee-cap ; and 

 to make the story complete, the father of the two sons, 

 when hunting in Hertfordshire, sustained a fall and had 

 his shoulder very much injured. 



A rhymester, too, paid his tribute to the excellence of 



Sir Richard's rule, one of the verses of his hunting song 



being — 



Then long may good Sir Richard live to grace his honoured name, 

 And long, too, may his gallant sons uphold their father's fame ; 

 And distant be the day when we shall see him quit the field, 

 And leave to hand less gracefully the hunter's horn to wield. 

 Then join with me right heartily, and a chorus loud we'll chime 

 For this fine old English gentleman, the pride of modern time. 



